Indonesian editor dead under suspicious circumstances

New York, December
17, 2010--The Committee to Protect Journalists joins with Indonesian
journalist groups in calling for a full and vigorous investigation into the
death of an editor on Kisar, one of the eastern Maluku Islands.Alfrets
Mirulewan, chief editor of the Pelangi
Weekly, was found with bruises on much of his body at 3 a.m. today,
according to Indonesian media reports. He had been missing since Tuesday night.

"Given the circumstances of his death, there is reason to
suspect Alfrets Mirulewan could have been killed for his work. Indonesia is
earning a bad reputation as a place where journalists can be killed with
impunity," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator.

Mirulewan's body was discovered on a beach, according to The
Jakarta Globe. Insany Syahbarwaty, a coordinator for the Maluku Media
Center, a local support group, told The
Globe that Mirulewan had been looking into allegations of unlawful fuel
sales. Mirulewan was working on the story with a colleague from another local
publication when the two became separated while following a fuel truck,
Syahbarwaty said.

Mirulewan had also covered recent local elections in the
remote area, The
Jakarta Post said. The Globe
reported that the Indonesian Press Council, the Alliance of Independent Journalists,
the Indonesian Journalists Association, and the Maluku Media Center are setting
up a team to look into Mirulewan's death.

Two Indonesian television journalists were killed earlier this
year, but there have been no prosecutions in their cases. In August, Ridwan Salamun, a
videographer and reporter for Sun TV was found beaten, also in Malukus. Three
weeks earlier, Ardiansyah
Matra'is, of the local broadcaster Merauke TV was killed in Merauke, a
small town on the southern tip of Papua province.

CPJ research shows
that about 90 percent of journalists killed worldwide are local reporters, and
that about 90 percent of all journalist killings go unsolved.